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March 4, 2009

Sex sells... it sells better if viral

I was on Youtube watching some random news about Berlusconi and Geddhafi playing best friends and at the end of the video I got prompted with a quite sticky advertisement by TripAdvisor. The idea is cool for at least three reasons. 1) Sex sells. 2) The message is funny and ironic. 3) Everybody got a bad experience in some crappy hotel.
I think this is a good example of a viral marketing campaign. In fact, the advertisement exactly captures the reasons why everybody will be likely to share this video with his friends, coworkers, etc....
The subject matter of the video (dirty stories in hotel rooms) is universal. It catches everybody's curiosity. Needless to say, the outfit of the actress is an essential component of the message itself.
The tone of the advertising is clever and ironic. Just after 10 seconds you'll find out that "dirty" is used in its literal meaning, out of any metaphor and regardless of the nuances suggested by the dramatic look of the actress.
And eventually, the punch line/call to action: check the list and send us your experience about dirty hotels. Well, I am sure that anybody who recently had a bad experience will be happy to be vocal about his complaints.
Therefore, if many people are following the suggestion, this collection of complaints is more than entertaining: it is useful information.
Perhaps, this is a good example of conversational marketing. I find this is gonna be an interesting evolution of the traditional viral campaigns. I believe that the main feature of this marketing strategy is to get the users to contribute directly to the message, acting as a "collective" testimonial. I am sure we will have to speak again about conversational marketing...